The present invention relates to sewing. In particular, the invention relates to particular styles of sewing that incorporate decorative stitching such as quilting. A quilt is a type of blanket typically having three layers: a decorative top layer, a middle layer of insulating material, and a backing layer. “Quilting” refers to the technique of joining these layers by stitches or ties.
Traditional quilting was done by hand and was very labor intensive. The invention of the sewing machine changed that. Quilting evolved from production of functional blankets by specialized artisans into a popular hobby enjoyed by many.
Modern quilts are typically made using a long-armed sewing machine, or stitcher, attached to a frame. The frame supports and holds the workpiece in place while the sewing machine moves along the frame with respect to the workpiece. A typical quilting apparatus illustrating the relationship between the workpiece, frame, and sewing machine is shown in U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2013/0190916.
A common way to quilt today is to use what is known as pantograph patterns. Pantographs are a way to “trace” a pre-printed stitch pattern with the machine in order to stitch that pattern onto the fabric. This allows very consistent work to be completed with a much lower skill level required versus traditional hand-guided stitching alone.
Such a method is normally accomplished by mounting a paper pattern on the rear of the table. A laser pointer is mounted to the stitcher head. The operator sets up the needle/thread at the front of the machine, and then uses handles provided at the rear of the machine head to control the head during stitching from the rear of the table. By “tracing” the paper pattern with the laser dot, the operator is able to reproduce the patterns from the paper template to the fabric being sewn. A user interface such as a tablet computer may be used to control certain aspects of the stitcher, for example controlling whether a needle is in the “up” or “down” position, stitching mode, etc.
While the normal user location is at the front of the machine, an additional user interface is sometimes needed at the rear as well when a quilter is quilting using the pantograph method. For some systems, this is accomplished by placing two, redundant user interface devices at the front and rear of the machine. Some systems accomplish this by making the front user interface device removable with a mount or dock at the rear of the machine.
Placing two redundant user interfaces at both the front and rear of the machine can generate extra, unnecessary expense. Both the user interfaces and the mounts used to hold them can be quite expensive. In the scenario where a user must remove and mount the user interface back and forth between the front and rear of the machine, an operator wastes time and effort.